The mother of a Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher who made the ultimate sacrifice is condemning the developer of an online simulation that allows video gamers to copycat the madman who ambushed 20 children and six educators last December. The release of “The Slaying of Sandy Hook Elementary,” which directs gamers to storm virtual classrooms […] …

Sarah Palin tells CNN’s Jake Tapper she goes to a “Bible believin’ church,” how she discovered God at summer camp and how Pope Francis is “kinda liberal,” but she’s not really sure. Palin’s new book, ”Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” in which, according to Amazon.com, “she asserts the importance of preserving […] …

This week, the Obama administration will take its most visible step in its campaign to stop the slaughter of African elephants, crushing six tons of ivory in Denver Thursday. Last July, Obama established a Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking composed of the State, Interior and Justice departments to develop a strategy to stop what […] …

In a 64-33 vote, including 10 Republicans, the Senate overwhelmingly passed, 64-32, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, or ENDA, Thursday. The first version of the bill was introduced in 1994, but none has ever passed either chamber. The bill bans discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pushed a broad religious […] …

Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) fingered Twitter as the latest Silicon Valley poster child of corporate tax avoidance, in this case through stock options that are likely to be granted when the high-flying social media company makes its IPO debut Thursday. Levin, chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and McCain, […] …

Bill Lambrecht, an award-winning reporter who has worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for more than three decades and for the past seven years has been the Post-Dispatch’s bureau chief, is joining Hearst Newspapers’ Washington Bureau as an investigative reporter. …

The fight over a broad religious exemption in the Employment Nondiscrimination Act is all but over. The question is whether the House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco will attempt to force the bill to a vote in the House this year. Pelosi has said all options are on the table. The Senate Wednesday approved …